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UN team confirms 94 civilian deaths in Ukraine, toll may be much higher

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A UN human rights monitoring team has confirmed 376 civilians injured in Ukraine, including 94 deaths, after three days of clashes, a UN report showed on Monday.

It said the fighting had triggered “severe humanitarian consequences” and that casualties could be considerably higher.

The United Nations Human Rights Council agreed on Monday to Ukraine’s request to hold an urgent debate this week on Russia’s invasion, minutes after Kyiv’senvoy told the Geneva forum that some of Moscow’s military actions “may amount to war crimes”.

The 47-member council adopted the proposal by a vote of 29 in favour, (including the United States), with 5 against (including Russia and China), and 13 abstentions after Russia’s ambassador Gennady Gatilov called for a roll call vote.

Ukraine’s Ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Yevheniia Filipenko, said in an opening speech: “Russia, a member of this Council proceeded to an unprovoked and unjustified attack on Ukraine. It was not just an attack on Ukraine, it was an attack on every UN member state, on the United Nations and on the principles that this organisation was created to defend.”

Gatilov told the talks that Russia had launched “special operations to stop the tragedy” in Ukraine’s Donbass region, and that Russia’s forces were not firing on civilian targets in Ukraine.

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